Abstract: In this article the authors address a simple question:
What will the already observable demographic changes mean for tourism in
Japan, apart from the presence of older people? Indeed, if the population
will be nearly halved in the next 50 years, one must actually address the
question of whether many of the more peripheral communities in Japan will
survive at all, or whether they resemble the ghost villages in Shiga prefecture
to the east of Lake Biwa. Some pointers to the fate of these communities
can already be discerned in a series of studies carried out in the last
20 years. On the basis of selected case studies this article projects this
process over the next 50 years to see what the impact will be on the Japanese
rural periphery and on patterns of tourism. Japan as a whole has an extraordinary
concentration of theme parks and other tourist facilities based on notions
of identity and heritage. The title of this article refers to the fact
that many communities in Japan are already turning their landscapes into
quasi, if not actual, theme parks in order to attract tourists, capital
and, especially, more residents. Over the next 50 years this process of
conversion could become a Darwinian struggle for survival as the population
diminishes outside Japan's major cities.

Abstract: This article stems from the assumption that researching
Japanese inns (ryokan) located in Atami (45,000 inhabitants, Shizuoka
Prefecture) would allow the reader to understand what happens elsewhere
among other ryokan in Japanese spas (onsen). After briefly
introducing the history of spas in Japan, three different approaches constitute
an attempt to explore the development of ryokan in Atami. From its
historical origin to its most prosperous economic period between the mid-1960s
and the mid-1970s, Atami has taken advantage of its location close to the
capital to develop mainly as a recreational place, based on the spas' (onsen)
function. Historically, lodging associated with this function came to take
the form of Japanese inns (ryokan), characterized today by a great
variety of scales and shapes. The several international hotels that have
also been developed still represent a minority, as is the case in most
of the recreational cities of Japan. The main historical periods of development
are emphasized in order to understand the different layers of history to
which the present inns belong. From the approximately 68 ryokan
still in business compared to the 361 in 1972, three case studies are introduced
to describe their diversity. The economic difficulties encountered nowadays
by this kind of lodging in Atami and the different solutions sought show
a tendency to create new patterns of lodging. In the new economic environment,
they may offer opportunities to keep a balance between preserving some
historical aspects of ryokan and creating new models for the future.

Japanese Working Holiday Makers in Australia: Subculture
and Resistance

Arpad Maksay

School of Political and Social Inquiry and School of Asian Studies and
Languages, Monash University, Australia

Abstract: This article explores the experiences of Japanese youth
in Australia on working holiday visas. Unlike previous studies, which have
concentrated on the structural effects that Working Holiday Makers (WHMs)
have on employment and tourism, this study adopts an approach that focuses
on individual working holiday makers. The research was qualitative and
aimed to reveal junctures for understanding and theorizing Japanese WHMs.
The main hypothesis is that as a group, Japanese WHMs form a distinctive
subculture within Australia. In relation to subculture, they form and maintain
social links and a strong sense of collective identity with other Japanese
WHMs. In particular, the trip around Australia is understood as the central
ritual as well as the context within which the subculture is formed.

Japanese Backpacking: The Emergence of a New Market
Sector--A Queensland Case Study

Bruce Prideaux1 and Hideki Shiga2

1School of Business Studies, James Cook University, Australia
2Hideki Shiga, School of Tourism and Leisure Management,
University of Queensland, Australia

Abstract: This article reports on a study of Japanese backpackers
conducted in Queensland, arguing that this backpacker sector has a range
of characteristics that differ from Western backpackers who, to date, have
constituted the main representatives of this segment visiting Australia.
The research identified a number of areas where the characteristics of
Japanese backpackers varied from those of the overall backpacker population
in Australia. One major point of difference was the emphasis placed by
this market segment on learning English and a preference for activities
that focused on the environment rather than other activities such as soft
adventure.

Abstract: Seniors are a growing segment among Japanese outbound
travelers. Given that Hawaii is one of the most visited destinations by
Japanese travelers, it is expected that the proportion of seniors will
continue to grow in accordance with social trends of aging adults in Japan.
The purpose of this article is to examine the satisfaction of Japanese
senior travelers based on their expectations of important destination attributes
of the Hawaiian Islands in relation to the travelers' performance judgment
of these attributes. This study employs an Importance-Performance Analysis
(IPA) to determine critical attributes of this destination. A focus group
with tourism industry professionals resulted in 15 distinct attributes
of Hawaii as a tourist destination. Respondents rated the importance level
of each attribute on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = not important
to 6 = extremely important. In addition, respondents evaluated Hawaii's
performance of these same destination attributes on another 6-point Likert
scale, ranging from 1 = very poor to 6 = excellent. Questions also focused
on the travelers' trip-related characteristics and demographics. Respondents
were selected from Japanese travelers who were 20 years or older, and had
visited Hawaii for pleasure travel. Of the 211 questionnaires collected,
73 of the surveys were completed by Japanese travelers over the age of
50. Of this group, senior travelers were mostly satisfied with the destination
attributes of Hawaii, specifically those factors that were related to Hawaii's
natural resources as well as the characteristics related to a comfortable
trip. Interestingly, the features related to physical activities such as
golfing, water sports, and outdoor activities were not viewed as important
travel destination attributes for Hawaii for both seniors and the younger
Japanese travelers. On the other hand, improvement in local transportation
and accommodations were destination attributes that travelers felt needed
attention. These results provide some useful insights for developing effective
marketing strategies to attract Japanese senior travelers to Hawaii, as
well as the usefulness of using the IPA methodology.

The Dialectics of Japanese Overseas Tourists: Transformation
in Holiday Making

Noriko Takai-Tokunaga

Department of Geography, School of Human and Environmental Sciences,
The University of Reading, UK

Abstract: This research examines transformational process of
tourist experience in the context of fast changing Japanese outbound tourism.
The Western perspective of this market is predominantly that of organized
mass tourists. However, as the market matures, a diverse style of overseas
holiday making among the Japanese becomes increasingly evident: more independent
and versatile tourists have recently emerged. A qualitative approach based
on the constructivist perspective was chosen because a standardized survey
research was recognized as being neither able to reveal the complex and
interwoven processes and mechanisms of such transformation nor an evolutionary
scenario of the Japanese outbound market. Semistructured interviews were
conducted with 17 Japanese citizens who had holidayed to Britain. Thematic
coding and narrative analysis were applied to the interview data to identify
essential thematic domains for understanding critical factors that have
affected their transformation of holiday making. It was recognized that
the Japanese tourist lives through a dialectical-optimizing transformational
process of holiday making in order to seek an optimal holiday experience.
Collective changes and recent trends in Japanese outbound tourism may reflect
an aggregation of such an individual's transformational process.